The Most Dangerous Road in Town

Posted on Sunday, September 1st, 2013 at 7:20 pm

Most residents of any city will have an opinion on the most dangerous street or intersection in town. Usually they wont avoid it though, since most roads identified as dangerous are also convenient and popular.

One opinion of Philadelphia’s most dangerous stretch of road might be Roosevelt Boulevard. A man commented on the New York Daily News website:

“I live in Philly and that is absolutely the worst street in America (fact). It has 12 lanes with trees and grass in the middle, on the street! My cousin died in a car crash in 1999. I’ve been driving for 20 years, never been in an accident until this year on Roosevelt Boulevard, this 12 lane street with houses on either side. I tried to explain the accident to the insurance adjuster who was in Florida. He couldn’t understand the street and how it’s six lanes each way with trees and grass in which you cross through exits to enter the other lanes. I tried to explain it to him. He gave up and took my word for it.”

Another man commented:

“I left NY 20 years ago and lived in and around Philly ever since. The Boulevard as it is known locally has the 1st and 3rd most dangerous intersections in the country.”

One tragic night

These individuals were commenting on a tragic event during the summer where a young mother and her four children were struck at 10:30 at night by an Audi that was racing another car in the in the Olney District section of Roosevelt Boulevard. The area they were crossing is a common crossing although not an official crosswalk since it is a great distance to the nearest crosswalk.

The comments on this article were very interesting, ranging from blaming the mother for dragging four young children across 12 lanes of traffic in the dark to condemnation of the young men drag racing at speeds in excess of 100 MPH.

What makes any road dangerous?

No municipality, city planner, or civil engineer would intentionally build a road that was inherently dangerous. However, roads designed to handle high volume traffic aren’t designed necessarily to handle irresponsible driving. In the case of the accident mentioned above, many claim the mother was irresponsible. That is not an acceptable argument.

The woman had most likely crossed the street in this popular unmarked crossing many times before, but she would be unable to anticipate that the lights in the distance were traveling at such speeds.

The misnomer of an accident

Is Roosevelt Boulevard dangerous? Considering the way many people drive, possibly. However, if everyone obeyed the law and drove as is they were driving a lethal weapon, Roosevelt Boulevard wouldn’t have the reputation it does.

If you have been in an auto accident in Philadelphia, your accident ultimately has human error as its cause, whether it was failing to obey traffic laws, respecting weather conditions, maintaining the vehicle, or driving while impaired. Freak accidents rarely, if ever, occur.

Consequently, if you have been injured in an accident, you don’t have to accept the tired excuse that it was an accident. A habitual tailgater is not going to have an accident. Certain behaviors have inevitabilities, not accidents.

Whatever the excuse of the drag racers in the above story, the tragedy they caused is of their own doing. Roosevelt Boulevard cant be blamed.